24 June 2009

Hot air 8 - My reading attention span

to cap off my reading list for europe, the following are the last things i read:

green mansions by w.h. hudson- mentioned by hemingway in "the sun also rises." a book about a venezuelan man living among the "savages" of the jungle in guyana. some of the descriptions of the jungle lushness were great, but the story was lacking. totally male ego ideals. an educated man successfully lives among the tribes of the forest. he finds a most perfect and beautiful "wild" girl. he becomes obsessed with her and tries to teach her about the world. he basically dashes all her "primitive" thoughts as stupid and false, thus shattering her world view. but he convinces her that all she needs is his love to know she is right in the world. she was once a respected, powerful creature and having met him became vulnerable and weak. the guy was so arrogant and annoying, i had a hard time finishing it.

this was the last book i completed. i attempted one or two others but found my reading attention span had dwindled with all the visitors and things i had left to take care of. so...

interesting new yorker articles (read much more but these are the noteworthy ones):- brief article about famous war time photojournalism- brief article on the middle east "obama effect"- short story from david sedaris. hilarious.- short article about edgar allan poe. his life, work, and new writings about him. interesting.- in-depth article about solitary confinement. absolutely fascinating and heart-wrenching.- in-depth auto industry article. history of the new auto industry belt in the south and the struggling american car companies.

and, to round out my reading list full circle, i began pride and prejudice again, and continued to read it on the plane home.

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currently living in helsinki, finland

this blog is about life since leaving michigan. my husband and i left our home state in 2008 for jobs, travel, and adventure. together we've lived in ann arbor for 9 years, france for 9 months, halifax for 3.5 years, and we've now lived in finland for 2.5 years. our daughter (X) joined us in 2010, and our son (Y) joined us in 2014, so they are now part of the adventure...